Tag: Joy

Categories
Weekly Blog

Big News…What a Gift

Starting in April, we’re going to have several free webinars that will be geared towards helping people with much that robs them of true peace, joy, and fulfillment. This will be followed by an online course that we’ll be offered on an incredibly affordable basis. Like with my books, anyone who can’t afford it, can have it for free. The important thing is getting the message out, as explained below.

Many of you know my story. An abbreviate version follows. For the longest time, I was on the hamster wheel of life…stressed, deflated, exhausted, frustrated…always chasing and incredibly overwhelmed. With what looked like relative success from the outside, I was crumbling on the inside. I wasn’t happy. I certainly wasn’t fulfilled.

Significant tragedy struck and I was literally forced to my knees. Crying out, I unexpectedly and for the first time in my life experienced the presence, unconditional love, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The experience launched me on an incredible journey that included much needed healing.

Given the lessons learned, including discovering my God given gifts, understanding the specific purpose for which I was put on this earth, and that God made me (all of us) for greatness, I became committed to determine what occurred in my life…including the things I suffered from and how I overcame them, all by God’s grace.

Now living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment, I created a curriculum to help others. That’s my story. What will yours’ be?

How This is Different

To be sure, this is faith-based stuff. But different from most “religion classes” (this is nothing like the traditional religion class), the subject material is incredibly relevant to your life. Not just spiritual, historical, or theoretical…but relevant.

You see, I found a secret that practically no one talks about (in our faith or anywhere else). In short, when I discovered who God truly is, coupled with how He made me and how He feels about me, it rocked my world. It changed my life forever. The lessons I learned include:

  • The unimaginable is truly achievable
  • We can live Heaven here on earth
  • There is a path to peace, joy, and fulfillment

It probably sounds crazy to you, but all of the above is absolutely true. I’m proof of it for the last 15 years.

If you’re like most, you’re exhausted and frustrated. You’re overwhelmed.

Some feel there has to be more to life than the daily grind. And others just want peace in their lives. Here’s the truth:

  • You don’t have to be overwhelmed
  • There is more to life than what you’re currently living
  • You can have a life of peace…joy and fulfillment
  • You were made for GREATNESS!!!

In what I’ve put together, I don’t just speak the above words, but walk you through a process where you understand and internalize these principles for your life. Should you engage, it’s going to rock your world and change your life forever….like it did mine.

Although we’re not yet ready to have folks register, you can check things out at https://mark-joseph-ministries.mykajabi.com/.

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

 

Mark Joseph

 

 

Categories
Weekly Blog

What Is Your Super Bowl?

Super Bowl LV was just played this past Sunday. Although slightly different given our year of COVID, it was still the event of the year. There’s no single thing in the U.S. with more buildup, expectation, or pageantry. The commercials, half-time show, features of the host city, star power, big money…these things are only outdone by the players on the teams and what they do on the field.

Both coaches have interesting stories. Andy Reid was the long-time head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, who led them in nine playoff runs, six division titles, five NFC Championship Games (including four consecutive appearances from 2001 to 2004), and one Super Bowl appearance. Ultimately released from Phili, he won his first Super Bowl last year with the Kansas City Chiefs. I’m a big Andy Reid fan.

Bruce Arians and his family have moved all over the country, with him coaching with many teams at both the college and professional levels prior to finally becoming a Head Coach. He was the Steelers Offensive Coordinator, when they beat his eventual team, the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. Having retired from Arizona as its Head Coach after 5 years in 2017, he signed a 4-year deal with Tampa Bay in 2019. Bruce has a big, bold personality and is known for the saying, “no risk it, no biscuit”. I love Bruce’s attitude.

Then come the quarterbacks. I’m not sure anything more can be made of their matchup or them individually…Brady, the 43-yearold who’s arguably the best of all time, now winning 7 Super Bowls and appearing in 10 (more than anyone in history on both counts) versus the young Mahomes who has the ability to make just about anything happen on the field, including the supernatural, winning his first Super Bowl last year.

Add to the above the Belichick/Brady debate…who needed who/who made who? Interesting that the Patriots had a less than impressive season without Brady while he just played in another Super Bowl with his new team.

In addition to the coaches and quarterbacks, both teams have tremendous talent and big personalities, too many to mention. Since 2009, there are at least 100mm people who watch the Super Bowl, with the peak at 115mm taking place in 2015. The Super Bowl is unquestionably a great event. It makes for a great evening, maybe even the entire day. While my wife and I watched alone at home, many have Super Bowl parties. A quick internet search indicates that roughly 28 million pounds of chips, 1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8 million pounds of guacamole were consumed this past Sunday. Wow!!!

Here’s my question for you…what’s your Super Bowl? The Super Bowl of your life. Although I’m a lifelong football fan, it’s my observation that so many of us pray to the god of football. We’ve become consumed by it. Pre-game. Post-game. During the game or at the water cooler the next day.

It might not be NFL football for you. It could be another sport. A hobby. It could be your obsession with what I refer as the 4Ps, possessions, pleasure, prominence, or people (using them, not authentic relationship).

What if as a nation, or as the world, we had as much enthusiasm for Jesus as we do the Super Bowl (or whatever your thing is). What if that were your reality? What would the impact be? Here’s what I know…the happiness that a Super Bowl win brings (even for the players, even for Tom Brady) is fleeting. So are the 4Ps.

I’m reminded of the line, “you can never have too much of what you really don’t need”. Think about that line. Here’s the reality…you’re never going to fill that God sized hole in the center of your chest with a Super Bowl win, a bonus at work, a nice car, or new house.

Jesus is the only thing (One) who can fill that hole.

Back in February, 2019, I posted a blog titled, “Tom Brady Isn’t Jesus Christ”. He wasn’t then and he’s not today, regardless of his 7 Super Bowl wins. There’s only one Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who gave His life for ours’.

God loves you more than you ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. He proved that to us by sacrificing His only begotten Son. Jesus proved it on the Cross. They gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us, helping us to be all that God made us for…GREATNESS!!!

Super Bowls are fleeting. So are the 4Ps. There’s only one Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment, and it starts with embracing Jesus and living life in the Holy Spirit. The formula is this:

  • God loves you, knows what is best for, and wants to see you happy
  • God designed you a very specific way, with unique talents, for a specific purpose
  • Jesus called on us to love God, love others, and share our faith (Great Commandments and Great Commission)

Embrace the above, do what Jesus says, live God’s will…knowing that He knows what will make you happy and wants you to be so, you’ll be living the Super Bowl of your life on a consistent basis. Not that problems will never arise, but only in knowing the love of Christ, independent of substance or circumstance, will you experience JOY…to me, that’s the Super Bowl.

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph

Categories
Weekly Blog

The Gift of an All Knowing, Ever Present Mentor

If a parent, maybe you can identify with the following. It has been humbling for me to see our three kids, all of whom are now married, go to their spouses for advice instead of me and my wife. I assume I did the same when I newly married. That said, it’s interesting. With all due respect to our two sons-in-law and our daughter-in-law, each of whom we like a great deal, they don’t have our same life experiences.

As interesting is watching our kids as they matured, making the same mistakes we did when we were their age. Again, not unlike us in our youth, they didn’t go to those in the know. If like me, you’ve probably said to yourself or them, “I wish you would have asked me about that”. It’s just part of human nature…to not learn the lesson without making the mistake.

Here are some questions for us to ponder:

  1. How would you feel if you had someone in your life who knew you better than anyone else; knew your strengths and weaknesses, your likes and dislikes; what it is you were designed for, your life’s calling?
  2. What if that person were always there for you, always present and never letting you down; constantly there to pick you up no matter how many times you fell down, always helping you course correct and prepare for the future?
  3. What if that person loved you so much that his or her ultimate goal was your happiness, your peace, joy, and fulfillment?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a mentor like the above? Given my first 57 years, with hindsight what it is, I could have saved myself many, many challenges. Assuming I had the maturity and humility to listen, having an all-knowing, ever-present, all loving-mentor would have been a game changer.

I have some good news and some bad news. Let’s do the bad first. There is no one on this earth, for the history of humanity, who has been capable of 1-3 above. With best efforts and really great people in many of our lives, the above is just an impossibility. Blame it on the human condition.

Here’s the very good news. What is described above in 1-3 does exist in the Person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

  • As evidenced by His torturous death on the Cross, He loves you unconditionally, wanting the very best for you.
  • It’s scriptural (Jeremiah 1:5 and 29:11, John 10:10) that God His Father, made you for greatness, knowing intimately your every gift and talent.
  • Through His Holy Spirit, He’s always with you…always.

There’s an expression in the recovery program (AA), that I believe can serve all of us, no matter who we are or what our experiences. That is, “let go and let God”. How do we know our Heavenly Mentor….by being in relationship with Him and abiding by His Will. We do that through prayer and the Sacraments (if Catholic), through encounter and community.

Doing the above, which is a function of embracing God’s unconditional love, will result in for you:

  • The unimaginable being achievable
  • Living Heaven here on earth
  • Experiencing true Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

As always, please reach out to me at [email protected], with questions, comments, concerns, challenges and/or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfilment!!!

Mark Joseph

Categories
Weekly Blog

So You Want to Fix the World…?

I thought this week I’d share a story I’ve heard before. I love its message. It goes as follows.

A father is preparing for a meeting, needing a couple hours of quiet time, when his son, a 10 year old, comes into his study, wanting to play. The father encouraged his son to go play outside, but the son returned. The father saw a magazine on the table with a picture of the world on it. He picked it up, ripped off the cover and tore it into many, many pieces. He handed it to his son, encouraging him to piece together the hand-made puzzle, thinking he bought himself a couple hours.

The son went into the other room and spread all the pieces on the floor. He wasn’t familiar with the world and as such, had no idea how to put the puzzle back together. One of the pieces got turned to the other side and the boy noticed the picture of a hand. He then proceeded to turn over all the pieces, guessing that possibly they would create the picture of an entire person.

 Photo by Sharon Snider from Pexels

 

The boy assembled the puzzle, knowing what a person looks like. He then got some clear tape to ensure that all the pieces stayed in order. He placed a piece of paper over the “person” puzzle, then turning it over, exposing the picture of world, perfectly put back together. All of this took him all but 10 minutes.

The boy rushed back into his dad’s office, incredibly excited about what he did. Looking at his watch, his dad was amazed. Knowing that his son couldn’t possibly know how the world would fit together, he asked how he did it so quickly. His son explained finding the picture of the hand, then turning over all the pieces, followed by assembling the puzzle of the person. He then explained how he taped it and turned it over, showing the world assembled perfectly.

Absolutely amazed, the dad expressed his incredible pride in his son, hugging him and telling him so. The father said, “Son, how in the world (no pun intended) did you figure this out?” The son then responded, “Dad, I figured if I took care of the person, the world would take care of itself”.

Out of the mouths of babes…such a true statement. In so many ways, if we had happy, healthy people, we’d have a better world. In reading my blogs, it won’t be a surprise to you that I think that the best measure of these things is our spiritual lives. In the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), Jesus instructs us to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. I think that those reading these posts would agree that men and women adhering to the Great Commandments are arguably our best people…and I’d suggest the happiest.

So again, “if we take care of the person”, if the person is the very best he or she can be, then “the world will take care of itself”. Huh!!! How about that. Go God!!!

As always, please get in touch with me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph